Sections

Canucks go to the farm to solve offensive woes

Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo has been on the trading block forever, ever since he lost the number one job to Cory Schneider. But he hasn't cooperated with that decision by having a brilliant season. Will he be the Vancouver goalie to go? Or.....

EDMONTON — The reinforcements are coming and they’re probably not exactly what Vancouver Canucks coach Alain Vigneault was hoping for.

Rookie winger Nicklas Jensen and fellow winger Bill Sweatt have been summoned from Vancouver’s American Hockey League affiliate in Chicago to try to add some offensive bite to the Canucks’ lineup.

They have a total of two games of National Hockey League experience and both figure to be in the lineup Monday when the Canucks wrap up their two-game road trip against the Sharks in San Jose, Calif.

The Canucks made the moves, which included sending wingers Zack Kassian and Andrew Gordon to Chicago, after Saturday’s ugly 4-0 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.

Vigneault’s body language said it all after that game. He looked and sounded like a general who knows his troops are not only depleted but dangerously short of ammunition.

He had just watched his team surrender four goals on the game’s first five shots and acknowledged the present injury-riddled lineup simply can’t be expected to come back from that kind of deficit.

“At this time right now I don’t think we have the firepower to give up four goals on five or six shots,” he said.

Actually, the Canucks can’t afford to give up four goals in a game. Take away the two empty-netters they scored in Thursday’s 4-1 win over Colorado, the Canucks have scored 11 goals in their last seven games. It’s nothing short of a miracle that they managed to win six of them.

Vigneault knows that luck can’t continue. So while he waits for general manager Mike Gillis to pull the trigger on a deal that might plug some of the many holes up front, the team decided to take a look at Jensen and Sweatt.

Assistant general manager Laurence Gilman acknowledged that the Canucks need to manufacture more offence.

“We wanted to change the dimension of our team a little bit,” Gilman said Sunday. “We had won six games in a row going into (Saturday), but our goaltending was exceptional. However, our scoring was down. These moves afforded us the opportunity to bring up a player with speed (Sweatt) and a player with skill (Jensen).”

Jensen, the 20-year-old Dane who was Vancouver’s first-round pick (29th overall) in the 2011 draft, played this past season with AIK of the Swedish Elite League. He led the Stockholm-based team with 17 goals in 50 games. Since joining the Chicago Wolves in early March, Jensen has two goals and four points in 11 games.

The Canucks really did not want to call him up this season and would burn the first year of his entry-level deal if he plays more than seven games. But they desperately need offence and Jensen is the best bet to provide some.

“He is a highly regarded prospect in our organization,” Gilman said of Jensen. “He has a dynamic skill set, strong puck skills and has an NHL release. He had a reasonably productive year playing in the Swedish Elite League. We got him back to Chicago, got him grounded and this affords an opportunity for us to evaluate him at the NHL level.”

Sweatt was a second-round choice of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2007, but the Canucks were able to sign him as a free agent when he left Colorado College in 2010. Sweatt, 24, has 12 goals and 29 points in 56 games with the Wolves this season.

Sweatt, a speedy winger, played two games with the Canucks last season.

“I just found out a little earlier today,” Sweatt said over the phone Sunday. “I got to play two games last year and it’s nice to get called up again this year and try to help the team win.

“I want to just help out any way I can, try to use my speed to create some offence and get in the opposition end to forecheck and create some turnovers. I am excited about the opportunity.”

Sweatt spent some time playing with Jensen in Chicago and liked what he has seen.

“We have played together a couple of games and he’s a good player,” Sweatt said. “He is solid and he is young and you can just tell that there is a bright future for him. He has a lot of skill, he is still young and will fill out and become a bigger guy. He has got a lot potential. He has got a good shot and sees the ice well. He’s just an all-around solid player.”

Kassian’s demotion was something of a surprise. He had missed eight of the last nine games with a bad back.

“He needs to play,” Vigneault said, before the team left Edmonton for San Jose late Sunday morning.

“We want him to get a little bit more ice time. He has been out for a little bit more than two weeks, on and off, and we felt for now he needed to play and we are going to send him down there.”

After a strong start to the season, when he played for a time on Vancouver’s top line, Kassian has struggled offensively. He has not scored in his last 20 games and had just three assists in that span.

Kassian, acquired at last year’s trade deadline in the deal that sent Cody Hodgson to Buffalo, had five goals in his first seven games this season.

Kassian took the morning skate Saturday and Vigneault had indicated he would be a game-time decision for Saturday’s meeting with the Edmonton Oilers. He did not play in Vancouver.

Gordon played six games with the Canucks since being recalled from Chicago and did not register a point.